De La Salle football team wears North Coast Section crown again

By Stephanie Hammon shammon@bayareanewsgroup.com

Posted:
12/01/2012 10:15:38 PM PST

Updated:
12/02/2012 12:09:22 AM PST

DUBLIN -- After the De La Salle High football team won its 21st consecutive North Coast Section title Saturday night, coach Bob Ladouceur confirmed he'd be stepping down either after this season or next.

The Spartans (13-0) routed James Logan 52-7 in a rainy Division I title game at Dublin High. They pushed their unbeaten streak against Northern California competition to 235 games against a Colts team that was having one of its best seasons ever.

The De La Salle defense forced six turnovers, and junior quarterback Chris Williams completed 9 of 12 passes for 148 yards and four touchdowns against the Colts (12-2).

"When you play tough teams you have to have good balance," said Ladouceur, who has now won 28 NCS titles as the Spartans' coach. "I thought Williams threw the ball really well, and we also used play action well."

Senior Andrew Buckley, who was the winning pitcher when the Spartans won the NCS Division I baseball title in the spring, caught two touchdown passes and also had one of the Spartans' four interceptions on the night.

"The coaches got us fired up, and we came out fired up from the beginning of the game all the way through the end of the game," Buckley said. "It was a good offensive night, a good defensive night."

Tiapepe Vitale led the Spartans' running game with 104 yards and a TD.

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Tight end Austin Hooper caught two first-half scores, including a 3-yard TD after Logan had cut the deficit to 14-7 about 7 minutes before halftime.

De La Salle led 21-7 at halftime, then piled it on in the third quarter.

Northwestern-bound Warren Miles Long had 122 rushing yards against a De La Salle defense that had allowed just one team (Pittsburg) to rush for more than 100 yards all season. He scored Logan's only touchdown on a 38-yard run.

"It's tough to get a running game going, they're fast an physical," Logan coach George Zuber said. "We thought we were going to be able to pass the ball and the rain didn't cooperate. No one's run on them all year, but in this mess (passing) wasn't the best scenario."

Now the Spartans will try to continue their decades-long dominance over the Northern half of the state against another highly regarded team. De La Salle, which won its 24th consecutive game dating back to last season, will learn Sunday which team it'll face in the inaugural Northern California regional games.

After winning the last three Open Division state bowl games, the Spartans are expected to receive a spot in the NorCal Open game. They'll likely face Folsom this weekend. That winner would then play the Southern California Open Division regional champion in the Dec. 14-15 state bowl games in Carson.

NorCal Regional championship games
The CIF on Sunday afternoon will announce which teams will play in the Northern and Southern California regional title games Dec. 7-8. Follow Stephanie Hammon on Twitter at twitter.com/stephhammon or East Bay Preps twitter.com/eastbaypreps for the latest news.